Road Trip to the Bayou State

We took a road trip to Louisiana to spend a long holiday weekend with our families. Nicholas and Rachel travelled well but the trip was long and tiring and it took a toll on us all. We had considered stopping over in Shreveport for the night but decided to keep on truckin'. So we arrived in Baton Rouge around 3:00 am on Saturday morning.

It's neat that our children have both sets of grandparents in the same area so they get to see everyone when we visit but it gets a little hectic trying to spend equal time with both sides of the family. Here are some highlights from the trip.

Visiting with Grandmama...





Meeting Uncle Steve's new puppy, Brody...



Playing on the playground's at Uncle Steve's job...



Nicholas and his cousin had a great time playing together. They only see each other for a few days twice a year but they seem just as close as best friends.





"Hurry! Hurry! I need money for the ice cream truck!" We were all frantically passing around money that we probably inadvertently ended up giving the lady a total of $10 for 2 ice cream treats. Oh well!







Hanging out at Granddad's office...



Playing with Tigger...



Nicholas giggled like crazy as he and Granddad made up a game of shoving "mail" back and forth through the mail slot at the office...



It was neat to see Rachel playing with the statue of Justice at Dad's office. I have a silly memory of playing with this statue too when I was little. She had two scales that probably aren't supposed to be removed but were (she now only has one scale and it keeps falling off!). She also has a sword that if you twist it just right and use a certain amount of force, you can remove it and play with it. Quirky I know but I liked playing with her.



Rachel had fun playing with Grandfather Chance.





Rachel even played on THE slide that Nicholas and Jessica have grown up with and still love to this day, even though they have both outgrown it.



Rachel and Uncle Steve, Stuart's brother...



Rachel was smiley and playful for most of the trip, except for a few times when she got grumpy from lack of sleep.



Of course, Rachel wasn't the only one suffering from a lack of sleep. Nicholas fell asleep in the car on the way to dinner one day.



Stuart carried Nicholas into the restaurant and he continued to sleep on Stuart's shoulder for quite a while. He finally woke up and we all had a good time at dinner. Rachel loved playing with Grandad.



Both Nicholas and Rachel spent lots of time playing with Grandmother. Nicholas especially got lots of "Grandmother time" in the mornings while Stuart and I were getting ready for the day. (Thank you, Grandmother!)







We enjoyed all the Cajun food we could stuff in our bellies - crab, hushpuppies, crawfish etoufee, fried crawfish, fried shrimp, grilled fish, boudin, and of course, boiled crawfish with potatoes and corn. Classic!

Dinner at Avocado's

The other day, Stuart and Nicholas were running errands around town together and the subject of dinner came up. Nicholas said that he wanted to get some shrimp from "Avocado's". Stuart smiled and, already knowing that it was Nicholas' favorite restaurant, said, "Do you mean Mikado's?" Nicholas said, "No it's that place by Kroger." About that time, they were approaching the shopping center where Mikado's Hibachi restaurant is located. Nicholas said, "Here it is. Turn in here and I'll show you where Avocado's is!"

A Vintage Family Circle - What an Awesome Find!

I'm not typically a Family Circle magazine reader and I don't collect old magazines for a hobby. But this old find is so exciting for me. Here's the story behind it...

Recently I was looking back through some old pictures of me when I was a baby in an attempt to figure out if Rachel looks more like me or Stuart when we were babies. I ran across this picture of my Dad holding me.



It's a sweet picture and I've seen it hundreds of times before and never paid much attention to it. However, this time I took a moment to look at it more closely and think about what life might have been like for my parents at that time. They were living in an apartment in Baton Rouge at the time I was born. Mom had been an English teacher but quit when I was born. Dad was working as an accountant.

I was born at the end of September 1970 and it's fun to look at the decor at that time. I actually remember that gold couch. I used to like sitting on it because it was sort of a soft velveety fabric. The black pattern was a different texture than the soft gold fabric I used to like to sit there and run my finger around the black swirls and feel the different textures side-by-side.

I think my parents still have that giant coffee table although it looks much different now. It is very sturdy and big. I haven't taken a close look at it since I was little but I seem to recall sitting under it and looking at some iron swirly pieces between the legs. I'll have to take a closer look at that next time I go home to visit.

I believe that the leopard painting is still at their house but I can't recall seeing it last time I was there. I can't imagine it is gone though. I think my parents have several paintings by this artist. Mom had told me something about the the lady that painted them but I can't recall now. Maybe she was just a friend of Mom's. I'll have to ask next time I talk to her.

I can't remember my parents ever having a rotary dial phone but that was obviously all there was at the time. The first time I recall phones in their house was when I was old enough to be on the phone all the time. I got to pick out my own Trimline phone and I picked a sweet pastel blue one.

The drama masks and zodiac on the wall. What can I say? It was 1970.

Then I took a look at the things on the coffee table. What had they been doing or reading earlier that day? Of course there is a baby bottle. The giant textbook sized book is most likely Dad's. There is a Family Circle magazine and a TV Guide. I knew TV Guide has been around forever but I've never had much interest in reading that.

I didn't know Family Circle was around back then. The thought of my mom reading a magazine like that to learn new parenting ideas and new recipes for our family was neat because I do that now for my family, just with different magazines. I tried to zoom in and get a closer look at the magazine to see what that month's issue covered but I couldn't tell.



However, a few searches on the internet and I found a magazine on ebay that looked remarkably like the one on my parents' coffee table. It's dated November 1970 so I was sure this was the same magazine.



A single bid later and I became the proud owner of a copy of the magazine on my parents' coffee table when I was a newborn. It may sound silly but for a sentimental sap like me this magazine is really special. I've enjoyed looking through it, especially at the ads for products that aren't around anymore. It's also fun to look at the prices of products that are still around today. How different things were back then.

Up!

We didn't have any plans today. I know, it sounds crazy. No summer camp, no playdates with friends, no excursions around town. Somehow we had nothing to do. So Nicholas, Rachel, and I decided to go to a movie. I had planned to go to the free movie at Rave. It was a cute movie we haven't seen before, Tale of Depereaux, or something like that. But I had to run an errand on the way there and thanks to some really nice people who talked way more than they needed to, we didn't make it to the 10:00 movie until 10:15. Since it's a free movie you really have to get there early to get a seat so we just kept driving as we passed it by.

We headed to Studio Movie Grill because they have a summer movie special too and there movie doesn't start until 11:00. I knew they were showing "Happy Feet" for the movie special this week which we've seen a squillion times so I wasn't too excited about it but I had gotten Nicholas all excited about going to a movie so what was I going to do? We got there in plenty of time and made it up to the ticket counter. Although I was planning on spending just $3.00 for all to get in to, I realized that the new movie "Up" was showing at 11:00 too and ended up paying full price for tickets for that movie instead. Fortunately it was matinee pricing so it only cost me $10.

Since the movie was showing at Studio Movie Grill, it seemed only right that we take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to eat a meal during the movie so Nicholas and I both ordered lunch. That was a whopping $20 bucks! So my plans for seeing a free movie with perhaps a simple purchase of a bucket of popcorn had now turned into a $30 outing. But look how happy Nicholas was...



Although she is getting too big for it, I brought Rachel into the theater in her car carrier so that she would be able to lie down and hopefully fall asleep since she still likes her morning naps. She happily munched on some of her beloved puffs for a while, used her toys to play with my camera strap, but she wouldn't nap.



So I took her out and let her sit on my lap. She seemed to enjoy watching the movie at times - between the other times when she was grabbing my glasses off my face, reaching over and grabbing Nicholas' shirt, or pulling my plate over to her and my straw out of my drink. She is a rambuncious little thing! Eventually she decided she had seen and done all that she needed to do and she fell asleep in my arms. Awww!

(Photos courtesy of a nice stranger and Nicholas)

He Never Sleeps

Nicholas insists that he never sleeps. He says he just lays in bed and rests but he has so much energy that he has no need for sleep. I have proof otherwise.





Ahhhh, there's peace and quiet in the house.....